Systems and methods for remote operation of robot vehicles

Abstract

An autonomous robot vehicle in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure includes a land vehicle conveyance system, a sensor system configured to capture information including surrounding environment information and/or vehicle subsystem information, a communication system configured to communicate with a remote human operator management system, at least one processor, and a memory storing instructions. The instructions, when executed by the processor(s), cause the autonomous robot land vehicle to, autonomously, determine based on the captured information to request a remote human operator, and communicate a request to the remote human operator management system for a remote human operator to assume control of the land vehicle conveyance system, where the request includes at least a portion of the captured information.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for assigning remote human operators to autonomous land vehicles, the system comprising:
 a database including experience information on a plurality of remote human operators; 
 a communication system configured to communicate with a plurality of remote autonomous land vehicles; 
 at least one processor; and 
 a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 receive, via the communication system, requests from the remote autonomous land vehicles for remote human operators to assume control, each of the requests including risk information generated by the corresponding remote autonomous land vehicle, 
 determine that a number of the requests is greater than a number of available remote human operators, 
 access risk ratings associated with the requests, wherein the risk ratings include at least one of: ratings determined by the system based on the risk information generated by the remote autonomous land vehicles or ratings that are determined by the remote autonomous land vehicles and included in the risk information generated by the remote autonomous land vehicles; and 
 assign at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles based on at least one of: the risk ratings or the experience information on the plurality of remote human operators. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein in assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to prioritize assignment of the available remote human operators to remote autonomous land vehicles having highest risk ratings. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2 , wherein the experience information includes an amount of experience, and wherein in prioritizing assignment of the available remote human operators to remote autonomous land vehicles having highest risk ratings, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to prefer available remote human operators who have higher amounts of experience. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the experience information includes experience driving in particular regions, and wherein in assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 determine, based on the experience information, a group of the available remote human operators who have experience driving in a particular region in which one of the remote autonomous land vehicles is located; and 
 assign one of the remote human operators from the group to the one of the remote autonomous land vehicles. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the experience information includes experience driving in particular situations, and wherein each of the requests includes an indication of a risk situation. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5 , wherein the risk situation includes a vehicle subsystem not functioning properly, and wherein in assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 determine, based on the experience information, a group of the available remote human operators who have experience remotely operating a vehicle with the vehicle subsystem not functioning properly; and 
 assign one of the remote human operators from the group to the one of the remote autonomous land vehicles. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein vehicle subsystem that is not functioning properly is a navigation subsystem. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 5 , wherein the risk situation includes a surrounding environment situation, and wherein in assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 determine, based on the experience information, a group of the available remote human operators who have experience remotely operating a vehicle in the surrounding environment situation; and 
 assign one of the remote human operators from the group to the one of the remote autonomous land vehicles. 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the surrounding environment situation includes at least one of: an unrecognized object, an emergency services vehicle signaling an emergency, a human directing traffic, or an excessive number of pedestrians or vehicles. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:
 receive, via the communication system, second requests for remote human operators to assume control of remote autonomous land vehicles; and 
 determine that a second number of available human remote operators is greater than a number of the second requests for remote human operators to assume control. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:
 transmit a list of at least some of the second requests to at least some of the second number of available remote human operators; and 
 receive a selection, by one of the second number of available remote human operators, of a request from among the transmitted list. 
 
     
     
       12. A system for assigning remote human operators to autonomous land vehicles, the system comprising:
 a database including experience information on a plurality of remote human operators; 
 a communication system configured to communicate with a plurality of remote autonomous land vehicles; 
 at least one processor; and 
 a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 receive, via the communication system, requests from the remote autonomous land vehicles for remote human operators to assume control, each of the requests including risk information generated by the corresponding remote autonomous land vehicle, 
 determine that a number of the requests is greater than a number of available remote human operators, 
 access risk ratings associated with the requests, the risk ratings determined by the system based on the risk information generated by the remote autonomous land vehicles; and 
 assign at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles based on the risk ratings and the experience information on the plurality of remote human operators. 
 
 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the experience information includes experience driving in particular regions. 
     
     
       14. A method for assigning remote human operators to autonomous land vehicles, the method comprising:
 accessing experience information on a plurality of remote human operators; 
 receiving, via a communication system configured to communicate with a plurality of remote autonomous land vehicles, requests from the remote autonomous land vehicles for remote human operators to assume control, each of the requests including risk information generated by the corresponding remote autonomous land vehicle; 
 determining that a number of the requests is greater than a number of available remote human operators; 
 accessing risk ratings associated with the requests, wherein the risk ratings include at least one of: ratings determined based on the risk information generated by the remote autonomous land vehicles or ratings that are determined by the remote autonomous land vehicles and included in the risk information generated by the remote autonomous land vehicles; and 
 assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles based on at least one of: the risk ratings or the experience information on the plurality of remote human operators. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles includes prioritizing assignment of the available remote human operators to remote autonomous land vehicles having highest risk ratings. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the experience information includes an amount of experience, and wherein prioritizing assignment of the available remote human operators to remote autonomous land vehicles having highest risk ratings includes prioritizing available remote human operators who have higher amounts of experience. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the experience information includes experience driving in particular regions, and
 wherein assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles includes:
 determining, based on the experience information, a group of the available remote human operators who have experience driving in a particular region in which one of the remote autonomous land vehicles is located, and 
 assigning one of the remote human operators from the group to the one of the remote autonomous land vehicles. 
 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the experience information includes experience driving in particular situations, and wherein each of the requests includes an indication of a risk situation. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the risk situation includes a vehicle subsystem not functioning properly, and
 wherein assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles includes:
 determining, based on the experience information, a group of the available remote human operators who have experience remotely operating a vehicle with the vehicle subsystem not functioning properly, and 
 assigning one of the remote human operators from the group to the one of the remote autonomous land vehicles. 
 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 19 , wherein vehicle subsystem that is not functioning properly is a navigation subsystem. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the risk situation includes a surrounding environment situation, and
 wherein assigning at least some of the available remote human operators to at least some of the remote autonomous land vehicles includes:
 determining, based on the experience information, a group of the available remote human operators who have experience remotely operating a vehicle in the surrounding environment situation, and 
 assigning one of the remote human operators from the group to the one of the remote autonomous land vehicles. 
 
 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 21 , wherein the surrounding environment situation includes at least one of: an unrecognized object, an emergency services vehicle signaling an emergency, a human directing traffic, or an excessive number of pedestrians or vehicles. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 receiving, via the communication system, second requests for remote human operators to assume control of remote autonomous land vehicles; and 
 determining that a second number of available human remote operators is greater than a number of the second requests for remote human operators. 
 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 transmitting a list of at least some of the second requests to at least some of the second number of available remote human operators; and 
 receive a selection, by one of the second number of available remote human operators, of a request from among the transmitted list.